Huobi Founder Li Lin To Launch $1b ETH Treasury Firm: Report

Li Lin, the founder of crypto exchange Huobi, has set his sights on a $1 billion ETH treasury, a move that could make the initiative one of the largest accumulators of the cryptocurrency.

Lin, who is also the chairman of Avenir Capital, a Hong Kong–based investment group focused on bridging traditional finance and digital assets, plans to launch a new Ethereum trust in collaboration with several prominent investors in Asia.

According to Bloomberg, Lin’s family office seeks to join forces with Fenbushi Capital co-founder Shen Bo, HashKey Group chief executive officer Xiao Feng, and Meitu founder Cai Wensheng. Together, the group of investors have formed a digital asset trust that will pursue an aggressive Ethereum (ETH) accumulation strategy.

The fund has reportedly netted $1 billion in commitments.

Li Lin is committing $200 million through his Avenir Capital. Meanwhile, multiple Asian institutional investors are reportedly ready to bet $500 million on this venture. HongShan Capital Group is among the top firms eyeing a foray into a venture that would count as one of the largest private accumulations of the world’s top altcoin.

ETH spot ETFs

Avenir Group is one of the top players when it comes to crypto spot exchange-traded funds in Asia. Indeed, since 2024, the Huobi co-founder’s firm has grown its spot Bitcoin (BTC) ETFs aggressively and ranks as one of the largest institutional holder of the asset. U.S. spot Bitcoin ETFs went live in early 2024 after the Securities and Exchange Commission’s nod. 

Asia’s first spot BTC and ETH ETFs launched in April 2024, with the assets’ debut in Hong Kong coming amid an unprecedented issuance by three Chinese firms. The ETFs, which trade on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange, were issued by China Asset Management, Bosera Asset Management, and Harvest Global Investments.

SEC gave a greenlight to several spot Ethereum ETFs to start trading in July 2024.

Biggest ETH treasury companies

The inflows into spot crypto ETFs jumped in 2025, with Ethereum at one point outpacing Bitcoin amid a rapid increase in publicly-traded companies that launched ETH treasury strategies. 

According to CoinGecko data, there are currently 14 public companies holding over $16.9 billion in ETH as part of their treasury bets. With over 3 million ETH worth more than $11 billion, BitMine is the world’s largest corporate holder of Ethereum.

Others in the race to accumulate the altcoin are SharpLink, Bit Digital and ETHZilla.